The Swedish Security Service has issued a press release confirming raids on multiple residential properties in southern and western Sweden, as well as the arrest of two individuals suspected of gross violations of the EU’s sanctions against Russia.
The breaches are said to relate to the “procurement of advanced products on behalf of Russia” but no further detail has been provided at this stage.
On Sunday Sweden’s Prosecutors announced the arrest of a Chinese national who was the captain of the Syrian-flagged vessel suspected of belonging to the Russian shadow fleet, the Jin Hui.
The particular offences forming the basis for the captain’s arrest are the use of false documents and suspected violations of the Maritime Act in relation to seaworthiness.
The vessel is reported to have been in Swedish territorial waters at the time it was detained and is now anchored off Trelleborg.
Further to our earlier post regarding the boarding and capture of a cargo vessel, the Caffa, the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office has announced that the vessel has now been formally seized the vessel “in order to obtain a judicial review of whether the vessel can be handed over to the state”.
Press headlines that the vessel has already been fully confiscated appear to be overstating the current position.
The press release adds that the investigation involves a request for mutual legal assistance from another state, but that state is not named. The vessel is suspected of having been carrying stolen Ukrainian grain and to have been sailing under false flag documentation.
On Friday 3 April, the Swedish Coast Guard boarded and seized control of the sanctioned “shadow fleet” tanker the Flora 1. The vessel is suspected of having caused a 12 km (8 mile) oil spill in the Baltic Sea near the island of Gotland.
The vessel was then anchored off Ystad.
The Coast Guard’s press release states that the vessel’s flag status is uncertain, and states that “this is the first time we have been able to trace a discharge to a vessel subject to sanctions, and which may be suspected of environmental crimes”.
We have updated our vessel seizure tracker.
The vessel has since been released, with the Coast Guard citing a lack of evidence linking the vessel to the oil spill, and that the Coast Guard had been able to confirm the flag status of the vessel.
Sweden’s Public Prosecutor has issued a press release making public raids conducted this morning at the premises of an unnamed “large company” in Sundsvall.
Two unnamed “people in senior positions” have also been arrested on suspicion of aggravated sanctions violations.
The press release does not include information on the suspected breaches.
Given the web links to information on Sweden’s Russian sanctions included in the press release, the investigation is very likely to relate to suspected breaches of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
On Thursday the Swedish authorities seized the oil tanker the Sea Owl I, in Swedish water.
The vessel was claiming to be flagged in the Comorros, but the authorities are alleging that the paperwork was forged.
It is also being reported that the crew has been questioned by the Swedish Prosecution Authority and that captain of the vessel has been arrested and has been ordered to be held in custody pending further investigations.
This is the second vessel seized by Sweden in as many weeks.
On Saturday Swedish authorities took control of the cargo vessel, Caffa. Video of the seizure has been released.
It is being reported that the authorities suspect that the vessel, carrying a cargo of grain, may have been sailing under a false Guinean flag.
A Russian national crew member has been arrested on suspicion of using false documents.
Press reporting of a civil dispute between Sweden’s SEB Bank and certain Russian customers associated with Olga Pavlova, the Vice-Chair of Gazprom, and relating to attempts to transfer SEK 60 million, has revealed that the same transfers had been the subject of now-concluded a preliminary criminal investigation in Sweden.
It is unclear when the investigation took place, or the basis for the conclusion that no crime had been committed.
It is being reported that Sweden’s Security Service, Säpo, conducted an operation in December involving raiding premises in Stockholm and arresting a Russian national for potential extradition to the US to face charges of breaching the US sanctions against Russia.
The Stockholm District Court has ordered the man’s detention pending extradition proceedings.
The alleged conduct is said to have taken place in 2022 and 2023 but no further details are available.
After a Russian vessel had engine trouble and entered Swedish territorial waters, Swedish Customs boarded the vessel and commenced an investigation into whether possible sanctions or export control offences may have been committed.
The vessel, the Adler, is designated under EU sanctions, and the owner sanctioned by the US. It is reported that the cargo included arms and military equipment.
It is now being reported that the vessel has been allowed to depart Swedish waters, after the Prosecutor’s Office declined to open a criminal investigation, on the basis that there was no intent to bring the vessel or its goods into Sweden.
